Up a mountain and down a waterfall

Well, it’s Monday morning and Tanzania hasn’t devolved into an apocalypse of post-election chaos. Voting occurred on the whole peacefully, bar some expected ‘irregularities’ here and there e.g voter’s names missing from registers, a register being mysteriously lost/stolen in Arusha etc. Very pleasing to see a indication of a high voter turnout. Early reports are showing that the challenging party is making gains across the nation. Final results should be known Wednesday. Guess people are keen for a change. I couldn’t possibly comment.

Didn't realise former NZ Attorney General Paul East is the head of a Commonwealth observer mission for the conduct of the election.

Anyway, had a kiwi friend come from Arusha stay with us Friday night. It is hot as anything at the mo, so wife and I ducked out of work a bit early and met him at the YMCA pool for some lazing in the pool. After pool time, we grabbed some curry /beers at the ‘Sikh Club’. It was packed with a host of tanned, young and excitable wazungu there to celebrate something...it’s an odd sensation seeing numerous white people at one time now.

Our mate is keen to do the Kili marathon with us so Saturday morning we decided to get in our first official training run. Yes curry and beer was probably not the best thing to have the night before. We decided to run part of the uphill circuit of the marathon and see how close we could get to the official turn around point for the event at Mweka College. We kept going on and on uphill while my knees screamed in protest but still the ‘turn around’ point was nowhere in sight. Nice views though of coffee fields, the Mountain in the background,people carrying produce downhill to the Saturday markets and Police training with machine guns at the Police College.

We were joined by a gaggle of kids and a reeking-of-alcohol drunk local. Both the children and the drunk guy outpaced me. We fobbed off the obligatory requests for money from our running mates and kept going. We ran an hour and half in total uphill and back, not bad for a first serious effort. I still felt pretty good after it and am starting to (faintly) think I could possibly run a long distance event.

After a pancake breakfast, we said goodbye to our Kiwi running mate and chilled the rest of the day. Went out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner with an older Moshi volunteer, to find that on Friday she had had her handbag taken. It was torn off her-bruising her arm- by a motorcycle as she walked along. As a sorta victim myself of an attempted robbery here, it made me angry. I don’t care how poor you are or how rich you think we are. If you steal-particularly if you leave a physical mark-you just make the victim feel violated and degrade your own dignity as a person. Anyway...as they say it coulda been worse.

Sunday, wifey and I were keen to get away from town and any election craziness, so we joined a couple of new American friends for a hike in Marungu (the area near Kilimanjaro about 40 minutes out of town with lots of waterfalls). We headed out from Moshi in their car and soon were staggering our way down treacherous, dusty steps at Marungu towards rivers, negotiating waterfall entry ‘fees’ with locals etc, all the fun stuff.

(the right way to cross a river)

(the wrong way to cross a river)

We found a couple of nice waterfalls where the locals let us be and we could swim and frolic in peace. (I’m pretty sure there was no bilharzi parasites in that water, gulp) I managed to clamber up a little way up one of the waterfalls to a grotto behind the torrent. That water does pound on one’s head though.


When we had finally had enough, we drove off stopping at a swish resort for a coffee and to talk American politics. From there a nice drive back in the sunshine to Moshi with the Pare Mountains and Maasai Plateau in the distance. As I stared out of the window, I reflected that despite the frustrations and weariness of the work, I was going to miss the rhythms of this country a lot. It may be harder than I think to readjust to wandering the streets of Wellington in a suit from cavorting on the plains of Africa.

Grabbed some chicken and chips at the outdoor Glacier Inn, fended off some wandering geese and then went home. Not a bad bit of activity this weekend. Didn’t sleep that well with neighbourhood TVs blaring election coverage till all hours of the morning.

Off to Mwanza, near Lake Victoria, at the end of this week to visit some friends.

UPDATE
Hmm our Volunteer Co-ordinator has just warned us there is tension in Arusha, violence in Dar Es Salaam and Mwanza due to frustration at final results being delayed. I've seen two utes full of suited up Riot Police, maybe heading to Arusha? I'm sure it'll all settle down.